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1.5.1-Columbina
Brick!Club 1.5.1 The History of a Progress in Black Glass Trinkets LOOK I’M NOT LATE FOR ONCE unless you count late to bed because that, that I am, but I’m downright early for Brick!Club! Wow, Hugo, you really know how to sell a chapter, hey. THIS IS GOING TO BE AN EXCITING CHAPTER AW YEAH. Wait, no, that wasn’t sarcasm, I mean that, we’re past statements of fact (ie Thenardiers are terrible people) and sobbing too hard to talk, now we have fun open to interpretation type stuff! Like how did Jean Valstranger learn about resin and stuff? I’ve lost track of dates, when did we decide he’d gone to see the Bishop? Wasn’t it already winter then? So the close of 1815 does mean he went pretty much straight there, right? If not, it wasn’t much more than a few months, presumably. I mean, he still has (presumably) the same bag and stick and whatnot (I’m just guessing he cleaned up his appearance a bit, so he must have made at least one stop). And, I mean, I get that thing where sometimes you need to bring in someone unfamiliar and uninvested with the subject at hand to point out something brilliant and obvious, or at least, crime shows tell me this is a thing that happens, and maybe that’s what he did, and he established himself before he worked it out, so, you know, hang around for a bit, quick learning and natural intelligence kick in, sure. BUT STILL. I think it’s just because it’s so beyond my understanding that I’m like BUT HOW DID YOU REVOLUTIONISE THE FIELD AFTER BEING IN IT FOR JUST A FEW MONTHS? And then even if we accept that, where did he learn to manage money or does he just make so much that he doesn’t even need to? I want to just be like “Wow Valjean’s natural intelligence, see what people can achieve when given chances in life!” but I can’t because it’s too technical for me. Anyway, moving on. No matter how many times I reread it I always expect the fire about the town hall to end with an implication that Valjean did it, even though that would be terribly out of character just because of the “And then this stranger showed up and coincidentally, we lost all of our records that night”. But it really was just a coincidence and the town immediately accepted him because he saved some kids who, also coincidentally, belonged to the captain of the gendarmerie. It’s like the universe is suddenly trying to make up for forty-whatever years of bad luck. The cool thing about this though, is that while he uses the Bishop’s silver to get his business going, he gets the town to accept him in the first place by being a Great Guy. He didn’t really need the silver, just the lesson. (AU where the Bishop teaches the lesson through something other than silver so he never has the capital to fund his idea and become a great man of business and then mayor, etc, all ultimately leading to the question: Would Javert recognise him if he was just an ordinary bloke?) Also, hey, I hope someone says something about markets and capitalism and the triple benefits of Valjean’s ideas, because I’d like to read that. Commentary Sarah1281 Well, we didn’t really need to decide when Valjean met the bishop since the book says it was early October. I don’t think that it matters that the records may have been destroyed, either, because they’re probably not going to have records of every single person in France who weas released on parole (Valjean isn’t supposed to be anyway near M-sur-M either) and even if they did no one looked at his papers which is the important bit. He likely had no papers at the time but the guy who was in charge of checking papers couldn’t bring himself to ask the savior of his children for papers so Valjean got a chance to settle down. Doeskin-pantaloons I don’t know if I have my own ideas on capitalism and stuff, but I will present someone else’s? (Incredited, because I forgotten who they were.) I something once which talked about how this chapter is basically Hugo giving us his thoughts on the Industrial Revolution (and capitalism, I suppose) in miniature. And basically, he thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread: In less than three years the inventor of this process had become rich, which is good, and had made every one about him rich, which is better. It’s a really, really utopian ideal of how capitalism should work. Someone will have a brilliant idea, put it onto the market - they get rich, because it works efficiently; the consumers are richer because the product is cheaper; and the wage earners are richer because less money into production = more money into their wages. (Oh Hugo, you idealistic darling…) (The thing I read on this, interestingly, compared it to Tolkein’s attitude toward the Industrial Revolution, as illustrated in The Scouring of the Shire. As in “Oh God it will be terrible and everywhere will be black smoke and machines and the trees will die oh my God.”) But yes. I haven’t decided yet whether this shows us that Hugo is a good little capitalist, but I think more likely it’s a more nuanced thing of, “Look guys, this is how it’s supposed to work, and if good people are in charge, then it does actually work. But also most of the time this is not the case and EVERYBODY DIES (check out the rest of my book!)” But that might partly just be my inner communistic projecting and not wanting Hugo to think capitalism is a good idea. (Sorry if this posted twice Tumblr hates me today.) Columbina (reply to Doeskin-pantaloons) Thank you~ ♥♥♥ That’s what I was thinking, but then I lost confidence in my own opinion, because that’s what I do, so thank you for writing this! Pilferingapples (reply to Columbina's reply) "Most of the time this is not the case and EVERYBODY DIES" ahahaha It’s a pretty stark divide (benign,society-building industry! Or CORRUPTION AND EVERYBODY DIES ON A PILE OF FURNITURE) but also maybe accurate? I have no idea if it’s at all what Hugo was going for but the interpretation WORKS FOR ME! Laissezferre (reply to Pilferingapples' reply) felt like i could share my thoughts because hey look, it’s my course! it’s true, that idea of capitalism is actually pretty idealistic. it’s what theorists would consider a text book scenario — higher productivity, higher output with less costs, higher profit, higher wages, increased welfare for consumer and producer (and workers), better for everyone! except that that doesn’t always happen, especially the higher profit leading to higher wages part. the lucky card in this scenario is valjean because he’s not a greedy business owner who stagnates wages and simply uses profit for himself, and although he does take some of the profit, he uses it for social services, which increases societal welfare either way. i think what makes this instance different from the general course of the industrial revolution is that valjean’s innovation didn’t require machines that can replace the human workforce. because if it did, he would have to sack unnecessary people and that doesn’t help in the public satisfaction ratings, even if the profit was used to add more hospital beds. instead, the “incompleteness” of his idea enabled him to hire and support more people. what i’m trying to say is the whole thing is very convenient for hugo, because if he made it more realistic, he would have encountered a lot of problems. and everyone dying is already a big problem Pilferingapples (reply to Laissezferre's reply) "everyone dying is already a big problem" You should be some kind of public speaker, that is the clearest economic platform I have heard in some time. XD Thanks, really! Columbina (reply to Laissezferre's reply) WAY TO NOT NOTIFY ME OF THIS, TUMBLR APP. Sorry for delay :( But also wow thank you, this is awesome and super helpful. Yesterday, bulls, today, capitalism, I am learning so much here.